In cutterheads, it is known to make the carrier together with the outer wall of the cutterhead out of light material such as plastic, light metal or the like to obtain a reduced weight. A supply spool for the cutting filament is arranged in the cutterhead. An actuation element extends through the spool and actuates an indexing device for metering the cutting filament from the spool. The indexing device is defined by latch noses displaced in elevation and located between the actuating element and the supply spool. By pressing down the actuating element, the latch connection is released in the one latching plane and a relative movement between the cutterhead and the supply spool is made possible until the latch element comes into contact engagement in the second latch plane. The cutting filament is unwound from the spool by means of this relative movement and moves through the pass-through opening provided in the outer wall.
If the cutting filament encounters an obstruction in the cutting plane, then the filament is deflected in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation whereby an intense kink load is applied to the cutting filament at the exit edge of the pass-through opening. The wall of the pass-through opening also receives a corresponding load because of this kink load on the cutting filament which is usually made of plastic. The cutting filament can be sheared off at the elevation of the pass-through opening when the load is too great. This can lead to disturbances of the indexing device because the remaining length of the cutting filament is too short. An unwinding of the cutting filament is no longer obtainable notwithstanding a press-down displacement of the actuating element. To eliminate the disturbance, the cutterhead must be opened which is time consuming and causes an interruption of work. In addition, the intense loads on the wall of the pass-through opening lead to a considerable wear thereby causing the pass-through opening to widen which is associated with a reduction in the guidance of the cutting filament. This too can lead to considerable disturbances of the indexing device. A welding of the cutting filament in the pass-through opening caused by wear cannot be excluded especially in the case of cutterheads made of plastic.